I ordered this CD-ROM (the special value pack) on the 10th and it arrived today. Deliver was very fast! The CD-ROM came with a hardbound cover user manual with a nice clear plastic book cover/CD-ROM protector.
This manual (and software) is marketed for the Japanese user, so don't look for any English language support whatsoever.
Installation was very easy and quick. Although the readme.txt file says you cannot install the program from a copied version of the CD-ROM, there is a very simple way to get around this that does not require any special skills. This is useful if you damaged your original disk or the CD-Drive does not work on one of your computers on your home network. Networks with multiple users will have to buy a CD-ROM for each user.
After looking up a word or phrase, you can double click the term and a popup appears where you can add/change/correct/delete the meaning of the term you were looking up. You can also add the pronunciation of the term you were looking up.
You can create your own personal dictionaries as well. This will be great for me as a translator/rewriter. Many terms I work with daily are not in any dictionary at all. Currently I have over 8,000 line entries in Excel, which can be daunting and difficult to edit at times. I hope to eventually get my Excel word list over into Eijiro over the next year or so.
After you install it, the shareware provider asks for a 1,000 yen donation, though it is not mandatory to pay in order to use the software. The user manual also states that you can ignore the request. Maybe part of the 2,600 yen I paid goes to the shareware author?
If you use the free online version of this software at www.alc.co.jp and type an English word, the Japanese results include hiragana after the key kanji term. This is great for me since I can't read the kanji correctly in a compound. Eijiro 2nd Edition does NOT have this function. It seems that you have to add the pronunciation yourself. I was really disappointed about this. I wish SPACE ALC would have offered this function for the paid user.
In the CD-ROM version, a big, fat, obnoxious, and visually distracting full em-size black dot is used to separate the results of the search term. A simple and clean slash or vertical line would have been sufficient. The format of the definitions given for the online version are much better.
Overall Impression?
Well, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being best, I give Eijiro 2nd Edition a score of 4. They could have included the hiragana for the kanji readings as they do online. The use of that obnoxious dot between definitions is distracting (the online version uses a less distracting diamond). The basic function of looking up an English phrase or a Japanese phrase without using a printed dictionary is quick, simple, and mostly accurate. Although I am not 100% satisfied with this product, I recommend you add it to your library of language tools. In fact, I order two copies. One for me and the other will be a Christmas gift.
アンミ英会話教室
〒234-0053神奈川県横浜市港南区日野中央2-6-3
パークサイド日野102号室
tel 045-841-4218
fax 045-841-4288
cell 070-5084-9592
http://www.anmi-eikaiwa.com/
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